Students today celebrated an “amazing victory” after the University of Nottingham announced a total divestment from fossil fuel companies.

Welcoming the decision Jane Meehan, Campaign Chair of University of Nottingham People and Planet said:

“We’re so happy to hear that the university has made the right decision and committed to full divestment. The social license of fossil fuel companies is vanishing.”

Meehan celebrated the decision as the result of a three-year campaign and the more than a thousand people that had signed a petition, writing that: “It just proves if we come together we can achieve anything!”

Divestment campaigns are local groups that call upon institutions to take their money out of fossil fuel companies.

In a press release announcing the decision, the University said that about 6% of their £50 million endowment fund was invested in fossil fuels and that coal and tar sand holdings would be immediately disposed of. The statement promised that all other fossil fuels would be removed from their portfolio within the next 12 months.

The announcement means that Nottingham joins a quickly growing list of UK universities that have committed to drop their fossil fuel investments.

Nottingham’s recently-appointed Vice Chancellor, Professor Shearer West, was previously Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Sheffield, which divested during her time there.

West said: “Fossil fuel divestment is an important part of our global outlook, ethical values and commitment to environmental sustainability.”

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